Archive for August 2009

NYC Cravings Makes Thursday a Midtown Day

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It looks like the NYC Cravings Truck is changing up their schedule a bit. Their Friday spot (on 53rd btw. Lex+Park) is now their Thursday spot, and Wednesdays and Fridays are now open (check their twitter or the ML Twitter Tracker to find out where they’ll be.) Mondays is still 45th & 6th. (And don’t forget about their off the menu porken special!)

City Comes Down Hard on Met Vendors: Need a real world example of what happens when too many vendors converge on a sought after spot previously occupied by one or two vendors at a time? The museum they're parked in front of decides it's too much, and rightly or wrongly the cops force everybody to leave. UPDATE: The Street Vendor Project weighs in on the issue.

I Got to Swig Wine at the Kwik Meal Cart With Gary Vaynerchuk

Who says wine can’t go with street food!  The latest episode of VendrTV is up, and features Gary Vaynerchuk (from Wine Library TV) pairing wine with food from the Kwik Meal Cart and the Dessert Truck (R.I.P.) VendrTV host Dan Delaney was nice enough to invite me out to Kwik Meal (fresh off their Street Meat Palooza 2 victory), so if you want to see us swigging wine on the corner of 45th and 6th, you’ll want to check out the video posted after the jump.  (Warning: I am not an attractive man.)

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Lezzette’s Home-made Gyro is Pretty Interesting

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My quest to find a real gyro sandwich in Midtown never takes a vacation. So when I spotted this sign on 34th btw. 8+9th in the window of Lezzette, my curiosity was piqued. Sure, it’s out of the technical Midtown Lunch boundaries. And Lezzette looks more like a generic Midtown deli, than an authentic Greek restaurant. But whatever. “Homemade Gyro”! How could I not?

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Schnitzel Truck Responds: “It’s Not Our Fault!”

Apparently the Schnitzel & Things Truck didn’t like what I had to say this morning about the issues they had yesterday on 43rd & 6th Ave:

“Just saw your little piece on ML. To be quite honest I don’t really care who you side with. It doesn’t matter to us one bit. But one thing you should know is that our business DOES in fact rely on heavy foot traffic! And because I am on Twitter, it doesn’t give me the right to park where we feel we will get the most customers?

You side with the “old school” but your solution for us, to go find a quiet street isn’t actually a solution that works at all. Instead of siding maybe you should realize that it’s not our fault! There is a conflict situation at hand and I understand the other point of view just as much as you, but I have a business to run and I need to hit my targets on a daily basis to stay profitable. And if it means that I have to stand my ground and get threats from an ice cream guy, so be it.”

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Where Do You Eat Lunch?: If you're a Serbian student, working a summer job with a moving company, you eat at Djerdan on 38th btw. 7+8th.  "It’s a Bosnian restaurant, but it’s the same food in Serbia. We used to be the same country, Yugoslavia. I can say there I feel like I’m at home."

What Happened At the Schnitzel & Things Truck Yesterday?

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By the time I walked up to the Schnitzel & Things Truck around 1:30pm yesterday, most of the action had already ended.  But  I was just in time to catch a Mister Softee truck driver berating the owners of the Schnitzel truck.  Explaining to them that his truck had been parked on this corner for years, and that they couldn’t park here, and that they were ruining it for everybody.  “”There are a million corners to park in New York City! This one is mine.” Both trucks had been kicked out of their spots by the cops, who claimed that they had been receiving “complaints.”   And even though the Schnitzel Truck had twittered earlier about trouble from a halal guy, it’s more likely the complaints came from the businesses in the area (possibly the Verizon store on that corner.)

Once the news broke, Schnitzel fans everywhere lashed out at the cops, the halal guy, and the Mister Softee truck vendor- who I watched threaten the owners of the Schnitzel Truck.  And while I don’t believe in vendors threatening other vendors, and I really want schnitzel to be available in Midtown as often as possible, I have to side with the Mister Softee truck on this one.  And it’s not too difficult to understand why.

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ML Forums: Milkshakes, KFC, Kosher Hot Dogs

  • The Golosi on Park will make a $4 milkshake with any of their gelatos [Midtown Eating]
  • Anybody know what’s going on with the Korean carts on 6th Ave? [Midtown Eating]
  • Cer Te has got nothing on this crazy ass new sandwich from KFC [Miscellaneous]
  • You can get a certified Kosher hot dog from Kosher Oasis [Midtown Eating]

More on Momofuku Midtown

I know it’s complete futile, but I still hold out some bit of hope that the new yet-to-be-named Momofuku, opening soon in Midtown, will have *something* for Midtown Lunchers.  That’s to say, anything under $10 that could be considered a “lunch”.  I know it’s silly, especially considering that not even Ssam Bar and Noodle Bar have something in that category- and those places are in the East Village! (I don’t know if you’ve heard, but Midtown rents are a bit more expensive.)

New York Magazine talks to Tien Ho (the chef who will be running the Midtown Momofuku) and gets some more details. Regarding lunch, they’re going to “try and do a prix fixe, there might be pork buns, and there will definitely not be “asian burritos.”  As for the possibility of opening a Milk Bar and Bakery at street level, as reported by the New York Times earlier in the month, he didn’t say one way or the other.

Related:
MomoMidtown… or would it be MidtownFuku?

Saw This Coming From a Mile Away: As predicted, this just in from the Schnitzel Truck's Twitter feed: "We parked on corner of 41st and 6th but immediate problems with halal guys!! Come and show support! We won't stand for this bullying!!"